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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

I came across an article published by Gaggle titled The Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make When Flipping Their Classrooms by Jackie Myers. A quick read that is well worth your time. It points out a few mistakes teachers make when they begin to flip their classroom. One of which really stood out to me. "Not teaching students HOW to watch videos."

For decades we have been using technology within the school to show educational videos to our students. From reel to reel to VHS to DVD and now to sources like YouTube, students of all ages have viewed videos in their classroom. In May, ISTE tweeted that "40% of students use online videos to help with homework." Because of these facts, it is easy for teachers to think that students automatically already know HOW to watch videos to gain information. The truth of the matter is, students need guidance and modeling if they are expected to watch a flipped lesson, or educational video, and have a firm grasp of the content that was on the screen.

This can be done in several ways in the classroom, but there are a couple of tools that could be used to accomplish this task: Zaption and EDpuzzle.

Zaption and EDpuzzle are two sites that allow a teacher to take a video and insert questions or comments as the video plays for the students. These are both excellent tools when it comes to using videos in the classroom.

Of course the questioning options are a great. The teacher can ask open response or multiple choice questions and collect data. This is really allows the technology to be used at a new level it hasn't before. Students have the time to stop and review video material before answering the questions. The previous way of whole group viewing obviously didn't allow for this.

However, for the idea of teaching students HOW to watch videos, the commenting options are fantastic. The teacher can simply add comments to the video for the students. Students could then write those comments down on what ever note taking method they desire. This would be a great way to model for students either face to face, or in a flipped environment.

Both platforms import videos from a variety of sources, such as YouTube. They both also allow you upload videos that you have created.